Take some risk!

I sometimes wonder if people become sheep as they get older.

When I was  young, I remember being at my Grandpa’s farm north of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. He had lambs, and they were so cute, and tame. Little lambs were not too timid and you could bottle feed and they were almost like young puppies.

Of course lambs do not stay young, and cuddly and before long, they are too mature to be bottle fed and as they grew older they developed memory loss. They also developed cowardice, devout cowardice.  No more the little lambs you could call and they would come; now they jumped and ran whenever you tried to approach. Frustrating for a little lad who enjoyed petting lambs.

This leads to my comparison to people. When we young we never shied away from trying new things, you were willing to try or do anything that you could get your hands on. I remember some things I was nervous about, some jumps from fence that I shouldn’t have tried, but eventually I did.  Gradually we grow up and all of us sudden we are sheep, hesitant to venture, to take risks. Thomas Alva Edison had thousands of failures for every success and we all know who he is.

Take a risk, take up running, try a new experience ~ sign up for yoga, or cooking or whatever. If you are interested ~ try it, check it out, travel outside your comfort level (but do it safely), try learning a new language.

Life is now, you’re going to be dead a long time, so live a little taking risks,  mix in a little spice in your life. I think you will be proud you did!

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Feel compelled to add your two bits?

Most of us at some time want to evoke change.

We want our spouse to notice us, to appreciate us. We want our kids to pick up after themselves, we want someone to change their behavior.

What is the best way to entice change with seeming persnikety, or unrealistic?

Step 1 – Start with a compliment! Yes, if you want to grow a new behavior, make sure the soil is ready to accept the idea. If you jump right into your comment, the receiver will just feel you are pointing a finger at them. All they will be thinking about is how rude you are.  There is always a sincere compliment you can open with. You do appreciate their involvement, and you do appreciate their enthusiasm, but if they don’t mind.. would they consider a small observation?

Step 2 – Don’t belabor the point, observation or request. It won’t help and so save your time and energy.  Compliment them again that they listened to your point of view; not everyone is willing to listen to feedback and give it a fair evaluation.

Step 3 – Walk away. Control your own attitude about the situation. That you do have a chance to control and effect. It could be worse, most likely it is not a life or death situation.  Count your blessings, and that always makes me feel better.

Again – have some situation you want to change?  Remember first to set the stage and include the carrot. There must be something in it for them!

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Music soothes the unsettled mind

So much to tell you today.

What really stands out to me from the recent Toastmasters Conference in Osoyoos, BC was the warmth of people there.

Most of the people there were cheering for everyone in all the contests, whether your speech was the best or not,  EVERYONE applauded that you were up there on the stage giving your best. 

Toastmasters understand it is easy to sit back and not take a risk but applaud and entice new or seasoned Toastmasters to venture, to stretch and reach higher.  When we do try, then we learn, and Toastmasters is really all about being an educational organization. The largest educational organization, and certainly a fun inspiring organization.  The room broke into its loudest applause on Sunday moring when one evaluation contestant picked up her certificate.  She didn’t come first, second or third but everyone rose to their feet because we all recognized her as someone who was breaking her comfort zone, and her tears of success were resoundly received as if they were our own. The room rocked with applause for that lady!

With that thought for you, I will close with a song to warm and soothe your mind, and maybe bring back some memories.

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Clouds on a Sunshiny Day

 

take a deep breath

Some stats for you. 1094 “hits” so far. 69 posts, 4 subscriptions, most views in one day 65 April 23.

I did an earlier post called Sunshine on a Cloudy day, but today is the opposite. You may want to read that one for comparison.

Today unfortunately I am having PC problems, and the PC expert I use is handcuffed helping me because he is out of town. Usually that is not an obstacle because he can log onto my computer and fix it long distance. But whatever gremlin inhabits my pc now is a hardware gremlin I think and it is making it hard to “boot up”.

I am relegated to a small keyboard on my netbook which is harder to type on, and lacks the information and pictures etc I use to spice up my missives to y’all.

One week to the Toastmasters conference in Osoyoos so I suspect I will be too busy for the next ten days to add to my blog anyway. 

So the cloud in my day is a temporary frustrating one, and a timely opportunity for me to give thanks in all circumstances and not give in to less positive thinking.

Thanks to everyone who pops in to check on this blog, your ideas, suggestions, and subscription are welcome.

look for the calm

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Back from Las Vegas

Lake Mead national recreation area outside Las...

Image by Wouter Kiel via Flickr

Dear Readers, I am just returned from a five day jaunt to the city of Las Vegas. A very dry city weather-wise, and windy. I stayed at a resort hotel on the south end of the strip that had a Mexican theme, named the Cancun.

Thanks to a fortunate coincidence I was able to see much MUCH more of the area around Las Vegas than ONLY the glitzy splashes of neon in the city itself. My driver, past co-worker and friend Klaus shared his wealth of knowledge and I ventured into the desert on his “horse with no name” and it did indeed feel good to get out of the rain. (who else remembers that song?)

I saw the Red Rock  canyon from the Red Rock overlook east of Las Vegas, the red boulder, and red rocks, Joshua trees and yucca plants. I saw the artificial Lake Mead which seemed a distant relative to Okanagan Lake but looked like a brilliant blue jewel in that dry, rocky arid countryside.

I got a laugh when I checked out a library in Las Vegas, at the entrance was a prominent sign _ No Firearms Allowed!  Quite a telling indication that I wasn’t in Kansas anymore!

In addition to Nevada, in my brief trip I was enabled also (thanks Klaus!) to see Boulder City, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, and even pop across the Colorado River into Arizona for lunch when we ventured to Laughlin, Nevada.

I will include another post soon with some personal pictures! Thanks everyone for bringing this blog past 1000 visits! Awesome!

If you are wondering how the gambling went, I canoodled with the slot machines and lost, but not a lot of money. In the casinos there was cheap buffets, and way too much good food, I took advantage of that also. So now I have seen Las Vegas, and it was much as I expected ~ not bad,and not expensive if you are careful gambling.

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You Got Me Going Now, so Shake it all out! – Target 1000 views by May 1

Thanks for dropping by, I have a variety of blogs; I am sure you will find a few of them interesting, music, just thoughts, and of course, toastmasters !

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Different categories so please look around and leave your comments, or even better subscribe.

My best day was 58 views, and I was pretty happy about that so I hope that I will have a few more excellent days just like that one.

Off on holiday for a few days tomorrow so will peek in to check the status when I return, it would be fanta-bulous to see the Target of 1000 by May 1.

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